Even after the investigation closes, it will take a freedom of information request for the public to learn the exact cause of death for Samuel Masih, 36, and his two young boys, Tyrese Sutherland, 10, and Santosh, 4.

The rigid OPP policy not to disclose runs contrary to the practices of every other police service in the Greater Toronto Area. The RCMP was unable to provide their practice by deadline.

At Toronto, Peel, York, Durham and Halton regional police services, the standard is to reveal cause of death except when it might harm the investigation or a future court case.

The Mississauga family was reported missing in the early morning a week ago. Masih’s wife said her husband told her he was taking the boys to a movie. Their charred remains were discovered in a burning vehicle a little more than four hours later, but it took until Wednesday for police to publicly identify the bodies.

Despite telling the Star, “we’re satisfied that the person responsible for the other two deaths perished in the vehicle as well,” Sgt. Peter Leon said the OPP never discloses cause of death while “the investigation is ongoing.”

“I don’t know why,” Leon said of the policy. “It’s just something that’s always been the norm.”

“It would be very useful if the public were informed so we had some idea as to what was going on,” Sewell said. “There’s no good reason to keep it private unless it interferes with the investigation.”

In most GTA cases, it doesn’t.

“In virtually every case I can remember, we’ve released the cause of death,” said Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash.

“I don’t believe any (investigations) in the last few months have not had cause of death revealed,” said John Mans, detective sergeant in charge of the homicide, child abuse and sexual assault unit at Halton Police.

Even though police are not looking for other suspects in the murder-suicide, Leon said the policy stands. “There’s always a possibility that some information could be received down the line that leads us in a direction that perhaps we didn’t know about,” he said.

Further troubling Sewell is that even after the investigation closes, the public would need to file a freedom of information request to find out cause of death.

By contrast, the regional police services would release cause of death to the public following an investigation’s close unless it would negatively affect court proceedings — and even then, the public would hear it later in court.

“After the investigation is closed, you should be able to get the information,” Sewell said. “You should be able to get it because there’s no interference.”

The public wouldn’t even be able to get the information from the Coroner’s Office, since the Coroner’s Act only gives permission to release death investigation information to next-of-kin, a family’s personal representative, or other members of the investigative team.

And in cases similar to that of Masih and his sons, where the suspect is dead, the information would not come out later in court.

“There shouldn’t be fixed circumstances” for accessing the information, said Toronto lawyer Peter Rosenthal. “I would hope every police service would have a policy that’s flexible.”

It’s within the OPP’s discretion to disclose cause of death, according to a spokesperson for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. The spokesperson declined to comment further, since “the OPP has indicated they require an FOI request before they release the information, therefore it may come before us on appeal.”